The Shower: Initial Build-out

While the plumber was installing the radiators, I was able to start focusing my attention (finally) on the shower. It (along with the rest of the bathroom) is going to be completely new - when we did demolition we pulled out all the old fixtures, so for the moment, the bathroom is just an empty space except for the toilet and the boiler. So the entire shower enclosure has to built from scratch: framing, walls, floors, waterproofing, tiles and new plumbing...in other words, "the works".

I had previously installed the bathroom sub-floor, working out the initial layout when we had the boiler installed. During that period, the wall separating the shower from the boiler was put up - so when everything is finally done, that wall will become the front of the shower (where the shower head and valve go).

Morning of October 17th - the previously framed-out is visible on the left.

After clearing everything out - the starting point for the shower!

The first task will be to start installing the tile backer boards - I had done quite a bit of research on the various options and decided to go with a product made by Marmox - a waterproof, insulated cement board. Not only will this be the proper surface to which the tiles can be attached, but it can be used as part of a waterproof system for building showers - I liked that this product accomplished several things at the same time. The Marmox boards can either be screwed into framing, adhered to masonry with adhesive, or nailed in place with plastic "spankers". I opted for using the "spankers" and the adhesive due to the very uneven surfaces of both brick and plaster - this was similar to dry-lining plasterboard in the living room. The adhesive itself is waterproof, but it also adds strength to the installation which will be necessary if we use heavier stone tiles.

Applying adhesive to the wall and the back of the Marmox board

The first Marmox board installed

The design for the bathroom (and specifically the shower) ended up becoming quite complicated as there are many "spanners" in the works here. You may have noticed there's a large arch in the brick wall - this was only discovered during demolition as it was hidden behind the old walls. This arch resulted in a steel post going in to reinforce the steel beam - which (of course) pockets into the brick wall directly above the arch. This post ended up in the shower, and the post is sitting on a heavy steel beam to help distribute the forces and weight (or to be more precise, the point load) of the post across a few floor joists below. As a result, the floor of our shower will sit on-top of the steel beam. I also added a ledge that wraps around two sides of the bathroom - this was initially done to help hide the concealed cistern from our loo, but i carried the ledge around to give a ledge over the sink and in the shower where we can put things. The final design of the bathroom incorporates all these elements and (hopefully) will seamlessly tie everything together for a clean and simple appearance.

Second Marmox board installed and starting to frame out the base of the shower. The ledge is also starting to be framed on the right side of the picture

The shower base fully framed out - sitting on top of the steel beam.

The shower floor's plywood substrate

The Marmox system includes an insulated and waterproofed floor board that is pre-sloped for water drainage. I ordered one that was closest to the size of our shower and then cut it down to fit. One of the other things I liked about the Marmox system is that is has been designed around a specific drain - the floor board is pre-cut to receive the drain, so the entire system is integrated and should come together easily.

The Marmox floor board

We had worked out that as the plumber finished working on the heating, he would do the "roughing", or first fixing, of the shower pipes and fixtures. We had previously selected and ordered the shower head and valve, but that evening "Aglaya" and I had to choose exactly where they should be installed the following day - she really enjoyed this part!

Locating the shower valve - which height feels right?

Locating the shower head.

So the next day our plumber installed the pipes and fixtures based on the locations we selected the previous evening.

October 20th - Overall view of the shower plumbing

Detail view of the shower valve in the wall

The floor drain anticipating the future floor height due the steel beam (visible in the backgound). The white pipe is a condensate drain coming from the boiler

With the initial plumbing completed, it was finally time to sheath the shower with plywood, covering the pipes (on one side). As part of the waterproofing I decided to use WPBP (waterproof boil proof) plywood that would later be covered with a waterproof tanking kit (to be explained in the next post), followed by the Marmox board.

Installing the plywood substrate

Most of the plywood installed

With the floor, plywood, plumbing and Marmox in place...the outlines of a shower are finally starting to be visible!

Heat!!!

After 10 months we finally have heat!

Sunday night we finished spackling and painting the newly hung plasterboard and our long push to be ready for the plumber yesterday is finally over. He arrived in the morning and set about unpacking the new radiators and setting them into position.

Morning of October 17th - unpacking the radiators

The first radiator in position

He then started fastening the brackets into the walls and soon we had our first radiator up on the wall. After all the others were up he decided to come back today to connect the pipes and valves...

Attaching the radiator brackets

A hung radiator

That evening - the living room's radiators awaiting connection to the boiler

So this morning he arrived early to begin connecting the radiators to the boiler via the copper pipes he had previously installed just below the floor during the "first fixing" back in June. The connection from the copper pipes to the radiator are done with chrome piping - those chrome pipes connect to the radiator via a valve that controls the flow of hot water.  These valves are thermostatic, which means that each radiator has its own individual control that automatically turns off when the radiator hits the desired temperature - this will save energy and heating costs.

Morning of October 18th - where the valve and pipes will attach

Our plumber connecting one of the valves

 The plumber moved very quickly and by the end of the afternoon he had all of the radiators connected and starting filling, testing and balancing the system. Soon everything was working properly...so we finally have heat! It's definitely another major milestone - and one we reached just in time, since the temperature started dropping this week and there's a distinct chill in the air in the evenings. Regardless of whatever else happens as we try to finish this project, it's such a relief to know that at least we won't have to go through another winter without heat.

A completed radiator in the living room

Heating Up: Not much of a weekend...

This weekend, as we raced to finish getting everything ready for the plumber, I had flashbacks to the insane, exhausting "marathon" we went through to get the scaffolding down a few months ago. Andre is scheduled to leave London on Tuesday, and our plumber is coming tomorrow (Monday) to install the new radiators and get the heat working - so we're down to the wire...

Morning of October 15 - yesterday's completed drylining

Andre started the weekend by continuing to hang plasterboard - this time in "the box". Once again, we were only working on one wall, since for now we just need to work on the area where the radiator is going to be hung. But it was a ridiulous amount of work. From my perspective it was far, far worse than working on the living rooms walls - even though the living room area is much bigger - because dry-lining is incredibly messy, and so we had to pack up everything and clear "the box" of all of our possessions and "furniture" (in reality, the only furniture is the air mattress, but still...).

Two boards up and ready for another

Finished and ready for plaster!

Once the pieces of plasterboard had dried and were rigid, I started plastering (known as spackling in the US) the joints between them. It wasn't difficult work, but I was totally unprepared for how finicky and tiring it was! I had to start by mixing dry plaster with water to make the plaster (spackle), ensure it was the right consistency, then apply it, smoothe it over the joints, wait for it to dry, sand it... and then repeat the whole process with a second coat. It looked and sounded so easy, but I discovered instantly that getting a smooth, even coat of plaster onto joints takes skill and technique - neither of which I had. (So in the end, it took Andre to make some of the more stubborn areas look presentable!)

Plastering the joints

We put in 12-14 hour days both Saturday and Sunday, but by Sunday night we did finally get to the point where the only thing left to do was paint the newly-hung plasterboard (just in the spots that will be behind the radiators, since after the radiators are installed we obviously won't be able to get to those areas).

October 16th - Hanging the last few boards

 But at around 9pm Sunday, exhausted, somewhat cranky - and daunted by the prospect of the enormous clean-up operation and reconstruction of the "box" that will have to happen before we can go to sleep tonight - we decided we deserved a little break while the final coat of plaster dried... so the painting only got done later on, after a quick trip to the pub and a couple of pints! Thank goodness for paint rollers...

Finished - ready for the radiator!

Heating Up: Drylining - Days 1 & 2

Having set the string line that locates where new plasterboards board will go, it's finally time to start drylining. As mentioned in the previous post, drylining involves hanging plaster slightly off the face of an old wall using dabs of a special adhesive plaster. As with much of the work we've encountered, it sounds simple, but requires a lot of labor.

I started in the corner of our new, enlarged living room, where the old kitchen used to be, and where I had just recently leveled the floor. This portion of wall was one of the grottiest in the flat as the old kitchen was in a truly nasty state - I was looking forward to covering it.

Morning of October 13 - the old wall

Since I had never done this before, I started slowly - carefully measuring the board and mixing the adhesive. Taking the advice of our Building Control officer, I also prepared a series of screws to provide additional support for each board. Once everything was ready, the adhesive is slapped onto the wall in a pattern that provides consistent support for the board. The board is then pushed onto the adhesive dabs, and the screws are fastened while carefully trying to line up the board with the string line and leveling it.

The dabs of adhesive ready for the first board

The first board pressed into place

So after the first board was up, I just started moving down the wall. I soon realized that the wall needed to be fully stripped of all the old wallpaper and then scratched up to provide additional places for the adhesive to grab onto. Scraping the walls ended up being time consuming, but  it was important to ensurethe adhesive had something more substantial to grab onto.

Putting the plaster adhesive onto the next area

Almost ready to place the 4th board

Pushing the board into place

The screws to provide additional mechanical adhesion to the wall.

End of the day - the first area completed

It took the whole day to set the first half of the wall, but once it was done we could see how much of a improvement it made. The next day continued on with more of the same to finish the other half...

Morning of Oct 14th - starting point

Scraping off all the old wallpaper so the adhesive can stick to something better

Under this window we had exposed brick, so I used some wood to make it easier

The last piece in place!

Looking down our newly drylined wall

Heating Up: The String Never Lies

Today my goal was to start hanging the new layer of plasterboard over the old walls. The reason for this (as you can tell from the pictures!) is that the existing walls are old, nasty and horribly wonky. Not only are they wonky, but they are covered in white wallpaper...apparently in the 1970's, there was a fad here in London to "paper" walls rather than paint them. It makes no sense to me, but I've heard from friends who tried to peel it off (when doing their own DIY renovations) that it was a miserable and difficult thing to do. Having had our share of drama on this project, I thought it best to avoid that...

The existing, old walls

In speaking with builders and our building control officer, I had learned about a technique called dry-lining.This technique hangs new sheets of plasterboard onto old uneven walls using dabs of plaster adhesive. When done properly, these dabs hold the new boards far enough off the old walls that you can create a straight, flat surface without being hassled by the old surface...a perfect solution!

Looking down the wall

In researching how to do this, it became apparent that one of the most critical aspects would be to locate the line of the new surface and make sure it will be straight and level. This may sound easy, but it's not - particularly in an old building where nothing is straight. You basically have to find the point on the old wall that sticks out the furthest, and then set a string line from that.

Holding a straight edge to one of the old walls - the light coming through shows how uneven it is

In doing this, one of the first things that became apparent was how wavy the old walls were...in all directions. Not only did the surface bow along the vertical, but it also moved in and out along its length.

Checking the vertical level of the wall (you can see the wall bowing away here)

I soon realized that the string line was actually too accurate! Because of an imperceptible shift in the old wall, it turned out we would lose almost 3 inches to achieve a perfectly straight surface. It may not sound like much, but in a small space...everything counts! So I ended up taking off my "architect hat", putting on my "builder hat" and "cheating" a bit by adding my own shift to the line so as to retain those precious inches. The shift was hidden along the edge of a window so it would be imperceptible to even the sharpest eye.

Because all of this took so long to work I ended up not hanging any boards today, but at least with the string line set, I can start first thing tomorrow.

Setting the string line - the new plaster boards will stop at that line.

Heating Up: Leveling the floor

The second task on our heating list is to level the floor where the grotty old kitchen used to be. The reason for this is that one of the radiators will go below the window in this area, and in order to start dry-lining the walls, the floor needs to be level (see next post).

The nasty old kitchen used to be in this corner...

The original wood planks below the window (surrounded by the new leveled sub-floor)

 As noted in our previous posts on leveling floors, the first step is to remove the old planks, then establish level lines using strings with a spirit level. With the strings level, a piece if wood is scribed and cut to match the level line - once those are fastened into place plywood is cut to fit on top, becoming the level sub-floor...

Old planks removed

The string line

Setting the second string line

Cutting the plywood to size

The completed and level floor